House intelligence chairman: There's no need for further investigations into Russian hacking

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee broke with
Senate leadership in saying there's no need for another
investigation into Russian interference in the US presidential
election.

Rep. Devin Nunes said Monday that further investigations would be
redundant. Nunes is a member of President-elect Donald Trump's
transition team.

"The House Intelligence Committee is conducting vigorous
oversight of the investigations into election-related cyber
attacks," he said in a statement. "At this time I do not see any
benefit in opening further investigations, which would duplicate
current committee oversight efforts and intelligence community
inquiries."

"Obviously, any foreign breach of our cybersecurity measures is
disturbing, and I strongly condemn any such efforts," McConnell
said at a press conference.

The Kentucky Republican said the Senate Intelligence Committee
was "more than capable" of conducting an investigation into the
matter.

In a Monday letter to Director of National Intelligence James
Clapper, Nunes also asked that Clapper, along with the CIA
and FBI, brief the House Intelligence Committee on the
intelligence community's current assessment of Russia's
involvement in the US election.

"Media articles published over the last several days have
highlighted supposed analytic disagreements within the
Intelligence Community (IC) over alleged Russian cyber activities
relating to the recent US Presidential election," Nunes wrote in
the letter.

"Such articles have stated, among other claims, that the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of
Investigations (FBI) have developed conflicting intelligence
assessments and delivered to Congress 'divergent messages'
regarding the Russian govemment's alleged cyber attacks connected
to the election."

The Washington Post and The New York Times reported on Friday
that an assessment by the CIA concluded that
Russia interfered in the election to help Trump's presidential
bid.

Internal emails from members of the Democratic National Committee
and John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton's campaign,
were leaked online throughout the campaign.

Trump has been reluctant to pin blame for the hacks on Russia. In
an interview that aired on "Fox News Sunday," he called the claim
"ridiculous" and "just another excuse" for Clinton's surprise
loss last month.